tourist. sarah brightman is going from the stage to the stars as she fre prepares to visit the international space station. find out what inspired her trip, just ahead. it's wednesday, october 10th. "starting point" begins right "starting point" begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good morning. got a packed show this morning. going to be talking to columbia university, the man behind the last affirmative action case behind the supreme court in 2003. going to talk to congressman jason chaffetz. he's at the forefront of the benghazi discussion. and dr. sanjay gupta will join us and singer sarah brightman is our guest. our starting point is piecing together what happened in benghazi. thstate department now giving a very detailed account of last month's attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi in libya. the house oversight committee will weigh in on security failings during a hearing that's happening later today. and the state department is now

saying that the attack was not a spontaneous off shoot of protests. they say u.s. and libyan security personnel in benghazi were out manned, a reasonable security presence would not have fended off the assault. u.s. ambassador cyst center stevens and three other americans were killed in that attack. senior international correspondent arwa damon went to the consulate ruins to help piece together exactly what happened. >> reporter: amid the ashes, soot, and debris, remnants of the life that was. it's all that remained in the unguarded u.s. consulate compound in benghazi when cnn arrived on the scene three days after the spleptember 11th atta. eyewitnesses told us it was a complex assault. the compound's first line of defense easily breached. according to one of the libyan guards who was stationed at the gate, armed with only a radio, the assault happened simultaneously from three different directions. he says that he initially heard chanting growing increasingly

louder and then suddenly the gunfire, the rocket-propelled grenades, and other heavy machine gunfire all began attackiattack ing the compound in is where am boss der chris stevens slept. a makeshift safe room. here on the floor is where cnn found the ambassador's journal. it is also the same room where the ambassador was located, hours after the attack first began, separated by smoke from his security detail. the u.s. initially said the assault was a result of a demonstration turned violent. >> putting together the best information that we have available to us today, our current assessment is that what happened in benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just trans fired hours before in chiropractcairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our

facility in cairo which were prompted, of course, by the video. >> reporter: that was not the case. the state department is now saying that there was nothing unusual prior to the attack. at 8:30 p.m., everything was calm. and just over an hour later, armed men launched their assault. libyan officials say they warned the americans on many occasions about the growing threat from extremists. the compound had already been attacked in june. and there had been numerous attacks on other western interests in benghazi. and yet, it remained a poorly fortified soft target. documents recently obtained by cnn indicate that the state department's top security official in libya asked for extra security but received no response from superiors. why is just one of many questions still to be answered. arwa damon, cnn, beirut.

let's get right to foreign affairs reporter in washington, d.c. we heard arwa end herpes wi-- h piece with why. we heard now the dramatic crazy descriptions of what happened when this team was trying to make their way, really fight their way literally into the annex. describe for me that horrific car ride that is being described by the state department. >> well, basically, soledad, after there was an attack at the main compound where ambassador stevens and shawn smith died, they had this chase with them, with these extremists all of the way through the city. there was this traffic. there were these windy roads. as you know, benghazi, a pretty decent size city in libya. there was a t lot of traffic out in the evening. they made their way to the annex. there was another few hours of firefight between additional extremists and additional team of u.s. guards, if you will, that were kind of a quick reaction force that came back to

the annex and after a couple of hours they said, listen, we really have to get out of here and they evacuated everybody. they found ambassador stevens at the hotel actually at the hospital actually someone at the hospital didn't know who he was. fished into his pocket and took out his cellphone and started calling people on the cellphone to determine that it was ambassador stevens. they got his body and they got out of benghazi. >> so when you read the details and start to understand what transpired, you really realize that the chaos of just how horrible it was. when there are questions that are now being raised and raised for a while now about the lack of security, what are the explanations from the state department about that? >> okay. well, there are a couple of things. there are these charges, and i think you're going to hear a t lot of people speaking today. andy wood, a leader of this so-called security support team, providing extra support to the whole country, u.s. employees

and the whole country, and eric n nordstrom asking for more security and his responses were unanswered and they said they wanted to keep the security presence to a minimum. >> elise, let me stop you there because i'm going to play what andy wood said to cbs news. >> sure. >> -- for enhanced or continued security that we had, that we had known, that we had come to live with and work with there for the environment we had, we felt we needed more, not less. >> $64,000 question, of course, is so why would requests like that go unheard and unanswered? >> that's the big question. when asked who said that, he said the state department superiors. and there is one woman testifying today, charlene lamb, deputy assistant secretary, where it seemed that the buck stopped with her and she was the one that said, you know, need to

keep the security to a minimum. soledad, what officials are saying is, listen, there was security improvements made to the consulate, to the office, over the last several months, leading up to the attack because there were other attacks on the consulate. there was this ied attack and other western targets. but what they're saying is the kind of assault that they suffered that night, this 40 armed gunmen, outmanning everybody there, they say that no reasonable security presence could have fended off what they had that night. and so, yes, there will be a lot of questions about whether there was adequate security, but they're saying really we could have not foreseen this. this is unprecedented in u.s. diplomatic history. i think, soledad, the question that's going to be asked right now is, given the threat environment in libya, given the threat environment in eastern lib libya, benghazi, should this office have been opened?

should ambassador steve evangelist had bestevens have been there? they need to go throughout the country, this is the work they do, they know that it's dangerous. but despite the tletsz thhreats this cannot stop. i think after the attacks in tanzania and kenya, there was a lot of legislation put in place and i think that they're going to be a lot of calls for measures, additional measures to put in place for u.s. diplomats. when secretary clinton says really on the front lines of u.s. diplomacy is what we saw. >> what they're going to be talking about today at the hearing. we're going to talk to one of the congressmen who is running the hearing today. thanks, elise. let's get to our top stories. john berman has that first. >> a lot of news this morning. mitt romney enjoying a nice bounce in the buckeye state. look at the brand new cnn/orc poll of likely voters in ohio after the first presidential debate. the president's lead there shrinking to four points.

that is well within the margin of error. that makes the race for 18 electoral votes a statistically dead heat. before the debate some polls had the president ahead by ten points, i should say barack obama only beat john mccain in ohio by four points. i think they would take a four-point win there, no problem. mitt romney's not flip-flopping on big bird after he promised to cut fund for pbs. the obama camp went on the attack accusing the republican nominee of trying to kill the prop particular sesame street character. here's what he told wolf blitzer last night 12k3w4r big bird is going to be just fine. sesame street is a wonderful enterprise. cnn does not get funding but somehow y'all stay on the air. i just think that pbs will be able to make it on its own just like every one of the other stations and does not require us to go to china to borrow money to keep pbs on the air. >> the camp quickly produced a

tv ad mocking romney's position on pbs. big bird is feature in the spot. they're asking the white house to stop running this ad. the presidential candidate is getting ready for their one in one debate, their only debate tomorrow night. vice president biden is in wilmington, delaware, his hometown, preparing. romney's running mate paul ryan is headed to danville, kentucky, where the debate will take place. of course, you can watch the vice presidential debate live tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. eastern on cnn and on cnn.com. it will be interesting, to say the least. >> absolutely, it will be. still ahead this morning on "starting point," affirmative action, the supreme court is taking up that racially charged issue. up next, we're going to talk to a university president who was the last to look into this issue in front of the supreme court. columbia university professor lee bollinger. president, for give me. i just demoted him. and shocking and disturbing video. suv slams into a man.

look at that. oh, my goodness. crossing the street. sends him ten feet in the air. plus, a look at business. christine? >> yeah, if you drive a toyota, enormous, enormous global recall under way. what you need to know if you're driving a toyota next. you're watching "starting point." when you have diabetes... your doctor will say get smart about your weight. i tried weight loss plans... but their shakes aren't always made for people with diabetes. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes.

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toyota announcing the biggest recall ever. almost 7 1/2 million vehicles due to a problem with its power windows that could pose a fire hazard. that includes about 2 1/2 million cars in the u.s. japanese automaker says the driver's side window could stick. the most common fix, applying a lubricant, could result in a fire. u.s. stock futures are down pointing to a lower open. stocks are not too far from five-year highs but it's the jobs market, of course, everyone is worried about. jack welch, the former chairman

and ceo of ge can't stop talking about the surprising jobs report from friday. he wrote this morning in a "wall street journal" op-ed, quote, the 7.8% unemployment figure released by the bls last week is down right implausible. and that's why i made a stink about it. here's how he made that stink in a tweet right after the jobs report came out. he said, quote, unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate so change numbers. economists say a large number of americans reported working part time are starting to work at home that drove the jobless rate lower. looking at the trend though, of course, is what economists like to do because that's more important. the jobless rate has been falling pretty consistently since the beginning of last year. so jack welch just can't let it go. said he was right about the strange jobs report. >> if you say so, sir. in just a few hours the supreme court justices are going

to begin hearing arguments concerning affirmative action in college admissions. abigail fisher claims the university of texas rejected her because she's white. let's talk to somebody who knows a lot about this firsthand. president of columbia university, president of university of michigan between 1996-2002, during which time he served as defendant in two supreme court case on affirmative action. thank you for talking with us. >> thank you for having me. >> when that case ended back in 2003, the sense was, maybe we'll need to discuss this for another 25 years. so here we are nine years later. affirmative action before the supreme court. what has changed that this is now before the supreme court again? >> well, i don't think anything has changed. i think the gruder decision which was in 2003 as you mentioned, really for the first time set down the principle that affirmative action at universities is constitutional under the 14th amendment.

nothing is really changed since then. the texas case does involve an unusual set of facts. i can go into that if you want. but it is unique in higher education. basically they admit the top 10% of every high school in the state. and that helps to get them diversity because the state -- the schools are de facto segregated. no other university uses that, so it's possible that the court just wants to look at that particular policy. if they do -- >> many people think they will expand it that this will really not just look at that particular policy where they admit the top 10% of every single school. but, in fact, that they will look at affirmative action overall and the makeup of the supreme court could have a very, you know, dramatic opinion pact on how that's going to happen. let me ask you a question between -- from what this woman

is saying in this case, abigail noel fisher. there are people in my class with lower grades who weren't in all the activities i was in who are being accepted to u.t. and the only difference is the color of our skin. for an institution of higher learning to act this way makes no sense to me. do you think she's wrong about her position? >> well, i think it's really every university in the country, public and private, for the past half century, basically, has tried to build diverse student bodies. we take geographic diversity into account, we take social economic diversity into account, and we also try to build a raciallyly and ethically divers student body. this is a tradition in the united states of bringing people together from different life experiences, that it makes a better, richer educational environment. so all the students who were admitted to schools basically

can do the work. we know that. they are the very top students. within a pool of candidates, that's how we select our student bodies. so it's not really fair, i think, to describe it as she has. >> diversity comes on all fronts. lee c. bollinger is the president of columbia university. obviously we're going to watch closely what the supreme court does. still ahead this morning on "starting point", a woman who is dying says the tsa humiliated her on what is likely to be her last trip ever. tsa telling a different story this morning. it's our "get real," straight ahead. i was in the ambulance

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welcome back. you're watching "starting point." our team this morning, washington correspondent for the "new yorker." roland martin is here on tv-1 and he does a radio hit right before this so he will be coming in. republican pollster kellyanne conway is here with us this morning. john berman is always with us. "get real," potential sad story. a woman terminally ill accusing airport screeners in seat of humiliating her on what she is describing as likely her last flight ever. 34 years old. her name is michelle dunaj and she has leukemia. she packed a lot of prescription drugs for an end of life trip to hawaii last week, then she cleared them with the airline ahead of time. when she actually got to security checkpoint she says tsa agents ended up puncturing one of her saline bags and was

feeling all of the tubes attached to her. they refused, she said, he request for a private screening, forced her to lift her shirt so they could inspect her bandages in front of everybody. here's what she says. >> when somebody wants to take a trip, especially what i call an end of life trip, because you want to see your family and friends, then it becomes -- it's even more important than just taking a trip. >> tsa says in viewing videotape of the incident, proper procedures were followed. i think the bigger issue in all of this, whenever these things happens, it's somebody who obviously is under any kind of medical treatment, that allows -- you then go to plan b, right, because clearly it's a sensitive issue. anybody, not even someone who is on a end of life trip and dying of leukemia, anybody. >> tsa says the policy is to be as minimally invasive as possible. and in her case, i think that she's an exhibit a of somebody

who is taken back in the private area and maybe somebody can look at all of her doctors' notes and not make her feel like she's on display to the other passengers. >> when i tore my knee, i was on crutches. you could see there was an effort to say, we have to stick to the policy but sometimes they would say you have to put your crutches through the machine but, okay, i cannot walk through it. i can't -- and you can see everyone sort of like, hm, trying to follow the rules but it's also very tough. i could have asked to be privately screened but i never did because i was rushed on the flight. >> tsa has to own up to the fact that they sdrircht rules. >> that's true. >> i fly all over the country. you go through one airport, there's one procedure. you go through another. some airports ask your name, you have to show your boarding pass as you go through. >> shoes, no shoes. >> no belts. >> it's like every day. someone -- >> it's almost like you have to -- >> they should own this issue and take it on. >> be consistent. >> i love when people are very nice.

how do i get through without my crutches? >> the baby strollers are the worse, too. >> don't even tell me. >> the smaller the child, the more gear they have. very frustrating. >> i feel sorry for that woman. that's tough. still ahead, what exactly happened during the september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi? the state department is now releasing some new details. confusing story. we're going to get to the bottom of that. and we're going to talk to congressman jason chaffetz. he is just back from lib yanchts left for dead. a man gets hits by a car. thrown ten feet in the air. now police are trying to track down the driver.

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let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy starts as low as $129 a year. for an agent, call the number that appears on your screen. welcome back. you're watching "starting point." congress today is looking into the murky circumstances that led to the attack on the u.s.

consulate in benghazi. in a few hours the house oversight and government reform committee is going to hold a hearing expected to focus on possible intelligence failures before the deadly september 11th attack. this is just a day after a bombshell briefing from the state department which says the violent protests over the antiislam video which the obama administration had claimed for some of the deaths of those four u.s. officials never even took place in benghazi. state department official told reporters during a conference call this. there had been nothing unusual during the day. there was nobody on the street. then at 9:40 they saw the security cameras -- they saw on the security cameras there were armed men invading the compound. joining us this morning from capitol is republican congressman jason chaffetz, chairman of the house oversight committee, recently returned from a fact finding trip to libya ahead of today's hearings. thank you for talking with us. what do you think of this new information coming to us from the state department call? >> it's troubling. i'm glad it's happening. i think it's a result of the

fact that we are holding this hearing, that this state department and the white house are slowly coughing up the information that we deserve to have to make sure that it never ever happens again. >> what do you want out of this hearing? do you want to see what the intelligence failings were? what's your ultimate goal? >> i think what we're going to hear is that we didn't meet the basic minimum standards required for a facility such as the one we had in benghazi and the requests for more security personnel went unheeded, unanswered, and consequently, you know, you have the death of four americans. we've got to make sure that that doesn't happen again in libya but we've also got to make sure it doesn't happen in other places around the world. so we're the oversight committee but we're also the government reform committee. we've got to get at the truth. thus far, it's been a slippery attempt to try to get to the truth because the white house and the obama administration has been very slow in giving us the facts. >> there is a guy named lieutenant colonel andy wood. >> yes. >> i believe he's going to be testifying before you today. here's a little bit of what he

said to cbs this morning a couple days ago. listen. >> for enhanced or continued security that we had, that we had known, that we had come to live with and work with no tl for the environment we had, we felt we needed more, not less. there was pressure to reduce the number of security people there. >> pressure from where? >> higher headquarters at state department. >> so to me that is very much a red flag in that. if the issue of course would be if the numbers are being intentionally kept low, who do you blame for that? >> well, we have two people coming from the state department who are going to answer those questions. thus far, they have not owned up to it. literally it's only been in the last 12 to 16 hours that the state department is now even admitting there were no protests, the video was not the genesis of this. so, you know, those facts are

slowly coming out. we're going to pry them out of this administration. and that's what the hearing is all about at noon. >> you know, you have said that you believe that there's a coordinated effort between the white house and the state department to, i guess,ive g ig sense that it was normalized, that everything was better than it really was. what proof do you have of that kind of collusion, if you will? >> well, i mean, look at the statements after the attack. you had jay carney, the white house spokesperson, the ambassador to the u.n., susan rice, you have this state department comments coming out. now we come out to find that those were absolutely not true. they are somewhere between totally false and absolutely not true. it's certainly -- >> i think that that's an exaggeration, congressman. >> no. >> let's play them then. >> what is true about what she said? >> let's first play the -- what ambassador rice had to say.

i think she's the one who went on september 16th on "meet the press" went further than everybody. bedon't have that clip. she said she believed it looked like it was connected to protests. she went the furthest. but jay carney, i think that was on september 18th, actually said something not going quite as far. i think we have her sound bite. let's play the ambassador first. >> putting together the best information that we have available to us today, our current assessment is that what happened in benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in chiropractor r cairo. almost a copycat demonstrations against our facility in cairo prompted by the video. >> it was jay carney who did not go as far. my question for you would be when you say there was some kind of collusion. that was a serious charge. where are you seeing evidence of collusion between the state department and the white house?

>> well, if you actually look at what jay carney said, i can pull up another clip for you and he goes further. and when president obama was asked directly on "the view" and on other situations he led people to believe there was a video. remember, we have a document that we is now out there in the media, 230 security interests -- attacks and other threats against western interests. our facility there in benghazi was bombed twice prior to this. how can you -- coming up on 9/11. we're in libya. it's been bombed twice. british ambassador in benghazi, assassination attempt. then we're led to believe that there was no reason to believe that we were under threat there in benghazi? we have people testifying today that is not the case. when that intelligence information comes forward, it doesn't go just to the state department. it also goes to the white house. that's why we have a national security council. so for the white house to claim ignorance on this is absolutely, totally not true. >> is it true that you voted to

cut the funding for embassy security? >> absolutely. look, we have to make priorities and choices in this country. we have -- think about this -- 15,000 contractors in iraq. we have more than 6,000 contractors, private army there for president obama in baghdad. and we're talking about can we get two dozen or so people into libya to help protect our forces? when you're in tough economic times, you have to make difficult choices how to prioritize this. >> okay. so you're prioritizing. so when there are complaints that, in fact, that there was not enough security, you've just said absolutely, that you cut, you are the one to vote against, you know, to increase security for the state department which would lead directly to benghazi. that seems like you're saying you have a hand in the responsibility to this. >> no. >> right? >> the funding of the security, you're happy to cut it? how am i wrong? >> because there are literally close to 200 embassies,

consulat consulates, those types of things. thousands of people that are involved in this. you have to prioritize things. libya, before 9/11, two bombings on or consulate out there. of course, that's got to be a higher priority than making sure we're protecting some other emphasis. >> we just heard from one of the clip that's going to testify before you today that there was definitely this pressure, in his mind, to not staff the embassy full by securitiwise. wouldn't that pressure be coming from you directly, essentially, people and others who voted against funding for security? keep it low because there's no funding for security. >> you're also talking about a vote that never came to fruition because we continued at the exact same funding levels moving forward. this is a vote that happened at the house. the senate never got to this point. we did a resolution. it's a red herring. the reality is you have to prioritize things. and when you're talking about such a small, small number of security personnel there in country, that's a problem.

another thing we're going to talk about at the hearing is the fact that the physical facilities themselves did not meet the minimum standards. when you're in libya after a revolution, i've got to argue that that's got to be a higher priority than protecting some other, you know, compound in boristias, whatever you might be. i don't mean to pick on them. what clearly didn't happen is libya was not a priority. i believe what i heard is that it's because they wanted the appearance of normalization. that's what they wanted. that fit the obama narrative moving forward. >> it will be interesting to see what comes out of your hearing today. >> thanks, soledad. john berman has an update on other stories. >> police in westminster, colorado, released a home video of a missing 10-year-old girl in hoping someone has seen jessica ridgeway will come forward. she disappeared last friday while walking to school. police have been scouring her neighborhood looking for clues. investigators say they got off to a late start to the search because jessica's mother works

nights and slept through a call from school officials. a body armor clad boston man flying from japan to l.a. gets stoppeded a l.a.x. and what they found inside his checked luggage will stun you. a smoke grenade, hatchett, knives, full-face respirator, body bags, even a bio hazard suit. wow. 28-year-old harris is charged with transporting hazardous materials. he is scheduled to be in court later this week. >> what did he say when they say why is all of this stuff in your bag? >> that's what i think investigators will be wondering. >> tsa -- >> too busy patting down the woman -- >> see, good job by the tsa. >> they managed to catch the arsenal in the bag there. >> wow. we're going to keep going. north carolina man is lucky to be alive this morning after being struck by a hit and run driver. watch this.

oh, my. john lewis was heading to work early saturday morning in charlotte when he was hit by that car. he just went flying. the driver stopped. got out. got back in his car and he drove off. miraculously lewis was able to get up and walk away about six minutes later. that is hard to watch. police are still looking for the driver. amazing he's okay. >> wow. that's unbelievable. >> i bring you some stories, don't i? >> you -- yes, you certainly do. but i just think it's incredible. a guy would get out of the car, check, think he's dead, yeah. that's crazy. wow. a lot of good news today. interesting news, i should say. ahead this morning, 11 people dying from meningitis outbreak. could be thousands now more at risk. how did this happen? we're doing to talk to dr. sanjay gupta. he went to where this pharmacy is that is now linked to the spread to try to get some answers tr them. a stage to the stars literally to the stars. singer sarah brightman has a big

announcement about her plan for space travel. no joke. she's going to space. yeah. we chat with her -- i told you. lots of interesting news today. she's not going to do the parachute thing. >> did he jump? >> he did not jump. >> you're watching "starting point." i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth!

11 people are dead. another 119 are sick. a growing meningitis outbreak is affecting much of the country. 23 states. at the ter of it all is contaminated steroid injections that now 13,000 people could have received. the fda doesn't even have the

authority to regulate pharmacies like this one that's now been linked to this medicine. cnn chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta went to massachusetts for answers and what he found is very strange. listen. >> what it all boils down to is this, how could it have all happened in the first place? i'm finding a remarkably difficult to get any information whatsoever. in fact, we drove about 40 miles outside of boston to massachusetts to the home of the owner and operator of the compounding facility. both he and his wife work there in the department of pharmacy. we wanted to ask them some simple questions, but neither one of them would come to the door. so we drove 25 miles to framingham, massachusetts. this is the necc, the compounding facility at the heart of this outbreak. we just wanted some answers. we're with cnn. we were trying to get ahold of somebody to talk to about what's been going on here. >> unfortunately i have to ask you guys to leave the property. >> they literally are telling us

to leave the parking lot, not even be here. we know people from the tda are inside. obviously a lot of cars are in the parking lot. people are working here in some capacity but this is another example of just how ridiculous it has been to try and get any information whatsoever. they wouldn't let us in the building but behind the buildings this is what it looks like. over there, that's the necc, compounding facility. back here, it's a recycling facility, essentially looks like a dump. walking around here, people told us that there has been this relationship between the recycling facility and necc for some time. doing a little bit of the digging we realize they're, in fact, owned by the same people. >> sun jay is in boston this morning. that is stunning. they own a dump and they own a medical processing facility. that's crazy. >> and they're right next to each other. it was -- normally you think of -- when you talk about sterile, good practices in these pharmacies, there's some separation between these types of things. and i mean, you saw it.

that was literally backing up to the door of this compounding center. >> so why does the fda not have jurisdiction over them? i mean, that seems to me like the first thing they would say is, separate your dump and your pharmacy. >> well, you know, the fda, and we talked to them a lot about this, soledad. for 20 years now this has been one of their big issues. they do want regulation over this. they keep in mind the history of these compounding centers, they started off as sort of, you know, being for individual patients if a patient needed a slightly different dose of the same medication or needed to flavor it, for example, so it tasted better for a child, that's often what compounding facilities did. i don't think they imagined they would grow to these huge centers where they would make 17,000 doses of the same medication and be shipping them across the country. so it's sort of has gotten much bigger over the years. but these compounding centers do not need to be accredited. it's voluntary. as far as licensing goes, which this center gave up their license yesterday, the licensing goes, if there's one inspection at the beginning of the

compounding center when they apply for the license, and then they only intervene if there are problems. they can go for years without any inspections whatsoever. >> wow. that is just shocking to know. sanjay gupta for us, updating us on this meningitis outbreak. thank you. always appreciate it. still ahead, never too late to go for your dreams. that's the message from singer sarah brightman. she's about to achieve one of her childhood dreams, which is to travel to space. that's up next.

♪

>> such a pretty voice. artist sarah breitman, most known as the world's best soprano. that's "phantom of the opera." she'll kick off her dream chaser world tour, a new album for that, will reach five continents. she plans to sign a contract to join the tourist flight to the international space station. she literally has always wanted to go to space and she's doing it. i sat down with her to talk about that. tell me about this trip. it's amazing. i'm excited for you and i'm anxious for you. how did it come about? and give me the details. >> well, i've just been designated by the russian space agency cosmonaut in training and i will be making a journey on the soyuz rocket. >> do you know the date yet? >> i have a year of touring and then go straight into training.

they're still deciding on the exact date. >> did you hesitate for a moment when you got the call? did you say, wow, i knew i was dreaming about this, but to really go is a kind of a different thing. >> i had to think about it very kaem carefully and, of course, take my family into consideration. when i first told my mother that this was my intention and i had been asked and wanted to go up, she slivered to start w i said, you know. soyuz rocket has an excellent past and record and i would be completely safe and then she -- >> did they told you what you would have to do in training? >> i had to go through the medical assessments. i went in the centrifuge to go up to 8 g. i had to do math while i was up there, to kind of keep yourself conscious. it was an amazing feeling but quite frightening. i was put in such a compression -- air compression chambers, put on rotating chairs which make you feel incredibly sick. your prodded and poked throughout the whole thing.

lot of injections, blood taken and a lot of the psychological examination examinations as well. >> over the next year, will you have to physically train, like running and weight lifting and stuff like that? >> yes. the great thing is that they don't want you too thin. >> yay! >> yay. but, yes. i'm a very healthy person anyway. and this has proved it because i got through. and i'm incredibly excited. >> i'm excited for you. it's amazing. normally it would cost something like $20 million. you don't have to underwrite that, right? >> no. i'm getting a lot of help with sponsorship. >> this is sarah brightman, to designate you as unesco artist for peace. >> the beauty of this is that i've been made am ambassador for peace for unesco, who have wonderful programs for women in education, women in the stem area. i'm hoping i can connect with

students, children, anyone who want withes to live vicariously through me while i'm off at the international space station. >> you'll be working the whole entire time, represent iing unesco? >> apparently you do get the best night's sleep there. of course, it's like sleeping in water. >> i can't even imagine. ♪ >> the theme of your latest album "dream catcher" and even the single, your first single off of it, angel, had that theme of sort of looking out into space. is this something that's been in your work all along, this passion for space? >> it has, actually. my first single when i was 17, which was a vacation in europe, i lost my heart to a starship trooper. it was a joke single and it was fun. yes, right the way through i had an album called la luna, which was space themed and dream chaser. what i am hoping and we are planning is that, of course, everybody says are you going to

sing to space? i'm hoping that this is going to be a possibility. we are planning actually something very extraordinary around the world while i'm up there. so it will be a connection from space to place. everybody if they want to be can be involved in it. it does literally bring in music. >> i'm so excited. we're in. we would love to do it. when it happens, let us know. >> okay, thank you. >> congratulations on a remarkable, remarkable trip and your new album, too. i love her. she could do live shots for us from the international space station when that happens. still ahead this morning -- isn't it great? >> already booking guests. >> see, look at that. i'm doing it aall. anchoring the show but booking guests for some time next year. ahead this morning, and back to a serious topic, state department and detailed account of the calculation behind last month's attack behind the mission in benghazi, in libya. the only details they're adding, adding a lot of confusion. just ahead of the house hearing. we'll talk about that this morning.

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welcome back, everybody. we're talking this morning about the truth about benghazi. new details from the state department as congress launches a full-scaled hearing that will happen in a few hours. supreme court is taking up the racially charged topic of affirmative action. why it could be struck down. and gaining ground, could mitt romney take the lead over president obama in ohio he? we're talking to fran townsend, cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin, jen psaki, and comedians joe derosa and robert

kelly, "a man's guide to infidelity: cheat." wonderful. "starting point" begins right n now. roland martin is the host of washington watch with roland martin on tv one. kelly ann conway is with us. and john berman, as always, is with us. the state department giving a detailed account of last month's attack on the u.s. consulate there. the house, the u.s. mission there. the house oversight committee will weigh in on security failings, saying it was not a spontaneous offshoot of protests, saying security personnel in benghazi were out manned and even a reasonable security presence would not have fended off the assault. that's their position. u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans were

killed. anwar damon has more for us. >> reporter: all that remained in the u.s. compound in benghazi when cnn arrived on the scene three days after the september 11th attack. eyewitnesses told us it was a complex assault, the compound's first line of defense easily breached. according to one of the libyan guards who was stationed at the gate armd with only a radio, the assault happened simultaneously from three different directions. he said he initially heard chanting growing increasingly louder and suddenly the gunfire, rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy machine gunfire all began attacking the compound. this is where ambassador chris stevens slept. part of a small suite also meant to be a makeshift safe room. here on the floor between the bed and the chair is where cnn found the ambassador's journal.

it is also the same room where the ambassador was located hours after the attack first began, separated by smoke from his security detail. the u.s. initially said the assault was a result of a demonstration that turned violent. >> putting together the best information that we have available to us today, our current assessment is that what happened in benghazi was, in fact, initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just tran entired hours before in cairo, almost a copycat of the facility in cairo, which were prompted by the video. >> reporter: that was not the case. the state department is now saying there was nothing unusual prior to the attack. at 8:30 pm, everything was calm. and just over ap hour later, armed men launched their assault. libyan officials say they warned

the americans on many occasions about the growing threat from extremists. the compound had already been attacked in june. and there had been numerous attacks on other western interests in benghazi. and yet it remained a poorly fortified soft target. documents recently obtained by cnn indicate that the state department's top security official in libya asked for extra security, but received no response from superiors. why? it's just one of many questions still to be answered. arwa damon, cnn, beirut. >> want to bring in cnn national security correspondent fran townse townsend. she visited benghazi with her employer. explain how a month has passed and worry still trying to figure out what exactly happened in benghazi, the details of this,

from the original compound to the annex pound, which involved a rush through traffic, being shot at with two flat tires, going the opposite way of the oncoming traffic to try to get everybody to safety and eventually evacuation is incredibly detailed and horrific and every single step of the way we've had from a lot of fronts this sort of confused narrative about what exactly happened. why is it taking so long? >> the initial -- it would be understandable that the initial story might be confused, right? there's utter chaos. and we often hear it from the military, the fog of battle. that kind of explains the first 48 hours. there is no good explanation for a month later. you have this hearing that begins this morning and just last night sources in the state department leak in advance of the hearing -- >> phone call. wasn't even a leak. >> right. but they wanted the story out before the hearing. it's an intentional sort of thing that, by the way, there was no protest. well, they didn't realize that last night.

they realized last night the hearing was this morning and it was going to come out so they wanted to get the story straight. having lived these crises, do not assume some conspiracy whereby it can be explained by incompetence. you now have the situation, soledad, where you have the inner agency pointing fingers at one another. in this briefing by the state department last night they say when asked, well, but you said your ambassador at the u.n. said it was a protest. that wasn't us. >> spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired in cairo earlier. that's what she said on "meet the press" five days after the violence. >> those facts didn't come from us is what they're saying. they don't point specifically at the intelligence community but that's where that's going. by the way yesterday the dni says it wasn't an intelligence failure. and everybody shouldn't point to us. we often can't get tactical warning

warnings. i think what you're going to see at the hearing is this pointing back and forth between the agencies about, well, that's not often times in administration isn't it possible because you're getting so many questions in relation to who did it, are we going to find them, are we going to respond? that seems to be the priority to give an answer, some kind of answer as opposed to, look, we simply don't know. >> it's a disease, roland, in washington. everybody is allergic to saying living with the consequences of that. but it's foolish. in some respects in the first 72 hours, nobody expects you to have the answer. they expect you're going to learn more details. >> fran, part of the debate is whether they could have had more security or not. one of the officials on this call from the state department said last night that the lethality and number of armed people was up precedented.

basically they're saying even if they increased the security as much as some folks wanted, it wouldn't have mattered because there were dozens of people rampaging through the compound. what do we know about that? could they certainly have protected the compound? >> they certainly could have done better. if you want it to be a credible voice, you have to admit we could have done better. last time we heard from the government we couldn't anticipate what was beyond our anticipation, 9/11. that's not an acceptable answer. having been there recently, the security environment was deteriorating. i discussed it with the ambassador. it was not a secret. it was known that it was -- that was certainly more so as you went east. and so i think it is fair to say nothing of this scope or magnitude had been seen before, but that's really not a good enough answer to say why wasn't the security situation there better. >> eric nordstrom, security officer in liba sent a couple of cables specifically requesting more security. he claims those went unanswered in march, and in june and july.

i think there's a certain to underestimate al qaeda but maybe you disagree. >> no, i do agree. we can expect the state department witnesses to do their best to avoid this but they're going to have to cope with specific requests from the field that were denied at headquarters and i think the committee is going to look to see who specifically denied them. >> this hearing is going to be fascinated today. it's going to be riveting to watch. thank you for talking with us, fran. john berman has other stories making news today. john? >> thank you, soledad. the man behind the anti-muslim film that was behind the outrage in the middle east is in court this morning on a brank fraud charge. they're not investigating the actual film that went viral under youtube. his access to the internet was

supposed to be limited under the term ter terms. likely ohio voters, the president's lead has all but evaporated there, shrinking within four points. 18 electoral votes is now a statistical tie. before the debate some show the president leading by ten points. when it comes to israel, mitt romney says he has the jewish state's back. wolf blitzer asked the republican nominee what he would do if israel launched a military strike on iran. >> there's no daylight between the united states and israel. we have coincidental interests, share values and are both absolutely committed to preventing iraan from have iing nuclear weapon. >> romney says if elected the first trip he will take if elected as president will be to israel. congressman paul ryan and vice

president joe biden face off for their only debate tomorrow night. you can watch it on cnn and cnn.com. it should be extremely entertaining. >> it certainly will be. we've got a lot to keep an eye on. ahead on "starting point," affirmative action under the microscope at the supreme court. justices are taking another look at racial preferences in college admission. we'll take you to the supreme court live for that. pittsburgh school teacher is viciously attack bid a teenage student and is captured on surveillance tape. we'll talk about that straight ahead. capella university understands rough economic times

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welcome back. you're watching "starting point." in a few hours, arffirmative

action will return to the supreme court docket. it could have far-reaching consequences for college admissions, involving a white student female who claims affirmative action is the reason she was shut out of the university of texas. joe johns is live for us at the supreme court this morning. talk to me about the stodetails this case, joe. why is it so significant? >> reporter: soledad, this really is the kind of case that could change the way students get into college all over the country. it could change whether race is used as even one factor in the admissions process. abigail fisher applied to the university of texas, says she was denied admission to the school because of her race. the university uses sort of a two-tiered structure to allow people into the school. first they allow the top 10% of students from high schools all over the states. and those who don't fit that criteria actually end up in

something called a holistic review process. that's where race comes in as a factor. the question is whether this narrowly tailored program is sufficient to withstand supreme court scrutiny once again. of course, about nine years ago when justice sandra day o'connor was on the court, she wrote this opinion. if you've heard it before, once again, the court is reconsidering some of these issues. there is some thought that conservatives on the court could sort of change direction and say race shouldn't be considered a factor at all. soledad? >> let's walk through, joe, some of those supreme court justices who have talked in the past about affirmative action. sonya so sonia sotomayor has said that she is a product of affirmative

action. and felt differently when he got out of law school and couldn't get a job and justice aleto who protested against affirmative action. that could be a 4-4 split. what are the expectations of how that will be divide up? >> reporter: a lot of thought, lot of speculation. you never know what a supreme court is going to do in a case like this. some expectation that justice kennedy might be the guy that has the say on this. of course, he is expected to really look at this as a question of the narrow tailoring. is this program set up to fit the needs and are they using race as a last resort more or less? that would be the speculation about where this thing goes. justice kennedy has the say and everybody else sort of falls evenly divided along the sides you would expect, liberal versus

conservative. >> joe johns at the supreme court for us. thank you, joe. let's get right to jeff toobin, cnn's senior legal analyst, author of "the oath: the obama white house and the supreme court." we know that an dsandra day o'cr said we won't have to talk about this for another 25 years. clearly, she was wrong. >> the supreme court is different. the facts of the case are not significantly different. every court that has look ed at this issue since 2003 has simply followed justice o'connor's instructions in the university of michigan case and said diversity can be a legitimate goal of college admissions. certainly the only implication you can draw by the fact that the supreme court agreed to hear this case is that at least some ju

justices think justice o'connor was gone and want to get rid of the consideration of race and affi affirmative action in university admissions. >> when you look at the aabigail noel fisher versus the university of texas at austin, there's a conflict between the xiv amendment and those that say they can have their own policy admission. >> this focuses on the 14th amendment. basically what miss fisher says is, look, by considering race, you are not treating individuals as individuals. you are using racial categories and that's what the 14th amendment was designed to combat. what the university says, of course, is the 14th amendment says no such thing, that we

believe the educational environment is richer, is made bett better. we, as a university -- this is where the first amendment comes into play. we think a university that has diversity of all sorts of backgrounds, income, race, gender, is a good thing for our students and we should be allowed to create a student body in that -- with that in mind. >> jeff toobin is the author of "the oath." also cnn's senior legal analyst. thank you for being with us, jeff. appreciate it. >> okey doke. >> high school yearbook is sensoring out a mother's baby from the yearbook. maybe new buildings? what about updated equipment? they can help, but recent research shows... ...nothing transforms schools like investing in advanced teacher education. let's build a strong foundation.

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welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans, minding your business this morning. pointing to a mixed open now. lot of uncertainty because of the debt crisis in europe and fiscal cliff looming in washington. feel like a broken record on that one, folks. toyota announcing its biggest recall ever, 7.5 million vehicles almost for power windows that could pose a fire hazard, including 2.5 million cars in the u.s. driver's side window switch on some models could stick because of a problem during the assembly process. the most common fix, applying a lubricant to the switch, that could result in a fire. >> that would be a bad fix, wouldn't it? >> that would be a bad fix. >> 2004 prius -- >> we'll ask just for you, my friend. >> in ryan's personal issues of the day. you guys can talk off camera about that. >> the tough call of the day is actually going to be a business

story. it's jack welch. >> former ceo of ge, talking about that surprising jobs report, wrote this this morning in the op-ed. downright implausible and that's why i made a stink about it. here is what that stink he made in a tweet after the jobs report came out. unbelievable jobs numbers. these chicago guys will do anything. can't debate, so change numbers. economists say, of course, a large number of americans reported working part time, started working from home, driving the jobless rate lower. the trend is the most important thing to look at. the jobless rate has been -- this is the trend. jack welch's ticking issue with the last part of that chart, the trend showing it falling pretty consistently. he is a columnist, contributes columns and commentary to fortune and reuters. he will no longer be doing that.

he has sent a letter sent via his ipad. he won't be sharing any more of his content. >> wrote articles that were critical of what he said. >> this isn't a tough call. this is a wimp call. jack is upset because -- it is a wimp call. he is taking heat because he's so used to everybody kissing his butt as america's favorite ceo. had the unemployment rate gone up to 8.4, he wouldn't have said a word. jack, guess what, take the heat. it's okay. stop being a wimp about it. >> look, what i don't like is all the ageism that flows when somebody who is 76 years old makes a comment that they disagree with. we heard the word dementia. we just were handed an article. he had to go on air and defend

that he is still cognizant. >> didn't they just think that that was crazy not necessarily because he's an older guy? >> he compounded it in "the wall street journal" article where he says imagine a country where the ruling authorities -- he compared what happened to him when he was criticized for spinning a conspiracy theory to communist china and soviet russia. imagine if you lived in communist china, soviet russia, looking at jack welch, this multimillionaire who tweeted some conspiracy theory so people pushed back and criticized him, which i think free peach is all about and then compared that to being in soviet russia. >> no, it's called the first amendment in america. >> before you tweet something, take a moment. just, you know -- >> he wishes he put a question mark after the tweet would have been all right? >> it's not the tweets but the editorial that he sat down, thought about and wrote --

>> double down. >> tweet is what started it all. he he said he should have put the tweet in a different context, which he did not. >> employment numbers still stink. that's what he was tweeting about. >> we were discussing that. he was discussing twisting the numbers, which is different. >> conspiracy element. we've got to take a break. >> ruling authorities? ahead this morning on "starting point" new details about deadly attack on the u.s. mission in benghazi, the white house version. were they wrong? we'll talk about that with the travel press secretary for the obama campaign. 15-year-old student is charged with an attack on a teacher. it was all caught on tape. ♪ [ male announcer ] its lightweight construction makes it nimble... ♪ its road gripping performance makes it a cadillac. introducing the all-new cadillac xts. available with advanced haldex all-wheel drive.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." remember that protests, we were told, led to the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi that

killed u.s. bambassador and thre others? there were no protests, things were quiet. the house oversight committee is getting ready for its hearing on the attack, will happen in less than four hours, will obviously have an impact on the campaign trail. jen psaki is the traveling press secretary for the obama campaign. >> god morning, soledad. >> this hearing will get under way in a few hours. he had said -- i asked about it as well. he was saying there was collusion, he believed, in terms of what the white house was doing and the state department and manipulating, if you will, the story. i'm paraphrasing him. here is what he said in an interview on fox news yesterday. >> coordinated effort between the white house and state department between secretary

clint sben president obama's white house. there was a very conscious decision made -- i believe, my personal opinion is that they wanted the appearance of, quote, unquote, normalization there in libya and building up an infrastructure, putting up barbed wire on our facility would lead to the wrong impressions. >> he's talking about this collusion for the sake of looks. the impact it's going to have on this campaign? >> i think that's quite a heedy accusation from congressman chaffetz and i know mitt romney and paul ryan have been making outrageous political raccusatios as well. the president knew chris stevens and the great work he was doing in libya. he knows how hard our diplomats have been working. that's why we've been fully cooperating with not only a stapt departme state department investigation, but with congress. we're providing information -- not even me. i don't even work in the

administration anymore. but the administration was providing information that they had access to at the time and the intelligence community has come out and said that this was an organized act of trocherrori. it's unfortunate it's being brought to politics. >> polls, that's an area you cover a lot. you said yesterday that you wouldn't pick apart any individual poll but now cnn has the poll of polls, if you will. how worried are you about polls like this? i have a bunch more to show you, too. >> we don't get too high when things are high and too down when things are down. we always thought this would be a very, very close race. that's why we're running like we're five points down in every single state. we have blinders on and implementing our plan and ultimately we think the people will look at the choice and vote for president obama. that's why with we're out there, making the case. we don't get too worried about the ups and downs of the polls

and know there will be many, many more between now and election day. >> you look at the state of ohio. first ohio poll of late. big jump for mitt romney. he is now 47%. it's right within the margin of error, but president obama is only leading there by four points and mitt romney has made a big gain there. if you look at michigan, according to an epic poll, mitt romney has gained eight points. you can see on the right side of the screen back in september. on the left side of the screen is where they are now, while the president dropped one point. and new hampshire, he has gained four points according to a wmur poll. what's the strategy, going into the vice presidential debate, what's the plan to turn this around? >> we don't think anything needs to be turned around. this race was going to be close. our strategy is to get out there, energize and engage our voters. when people look at the choice it's going to be pretty clear to them that president obama is a

better choice for the middle class. we feel very confident in our ground game and we're implementing that across the country. the president was in ohio yesterday, the voter registration deadline, encouraging people to go vote, early vote, go register. you'll be out in florida tomorrow and that's what we're focused on, not getting whipped up and down with the ups and downs of these polls. we know there will be many more ups and downs in the coming days. >> you don't have many days left. the president got 53% as a nonincumbent in 2008. you know because you were a great pollster before he went to the white house and the campaign, what exactly do you do, knowing that most undecided voters usually break for the challenger? you may thenk he is a better, quote, choice, but he certainly is not a better debater. what do you do in the next 27 days to make him a better debater in the two remaining debates and thirdly to stop -- >> let me answer -- answer one at a time. >> and stop the tide -- stop the

tide from the undecideds. >> i have never been a pollster, number one. number two, the american people are looking at what the candidates are representing. we know there's a limited time left in the race. we know mitt romney had a better debate last week. we're not focused on that. we're focused on the next debate and the president is excited about having a back and forth with not only mitt romney, but the people in the audience aat the town hall meeting. i know this people want us to say we're out, we're depressed, under a table. but we feel much better about our ground game. we feel better about the choice we're offering the american people than mitt romney. we'll let him run his own race and we're going to run our own race. >> jen psaki joining us this morning. appreciate your time, jen. >> thank you. >> you bet. john berman, other stories making news today. police in westminster, colorado, have released home video of jessica ridgeway, in hopes that someone who has seen

the 11-year-old will come forward. her backpack was found six miles from her house. they got off to a late start on their search because her mother works nights and police say she slept through a call from officials after jessica was reported absent from class. alleged sexual abuse, names released by a lawyer who represents more than 100 alleged victims. according to his files, many have never been reported to police or never faced criminal charges. police in pittsburgh have arrested a 15-year-old boy for a vicious, apparently unprovoked attack on a teacher that was captured on a security camera. the tape shows the 50-year-old teacher walking by a group of people when he suddenly is punched and knocked unconscious. the suspect has now been charged with assault. and the father of a bullying victim in texas is trying to protect his 14-year-old son by shaming his school. randy duke is home from his job training police officers in afghanistan, spending several

hours a day outside his son max's middle school wearing a sign that says bullying victims are punished here. that's because max finally fought back and wound up getting a suspension for doing it. >> he feels nobody has been listening to him. when he finally has to take matters into his own hands, he gets punished and he's at the point where with, you know, dad, i couldn't walk away, because he just followed me and beats up on me all the time. >> school district officials are not commenting on max's case. some students in minnesota are upset. they say pictures in their public school's yearbook is being censored, not allowing the photo of a teen and her baby. it also isn't allowing a remembrance page for a student who killed himself. the school says it is standing by years of tradition, showing only one student in a senior pho photo. school officials also saying experts advise them not to start a remembrance page. so much for kids doing their own

yearbook. >> if my kid was being bullied and couldn't get any help on it, i would tell them to go smack the other kid. i would. honestly, i spent a lot of time thinking about that. i'm sure that's exactly the wrong thing to do. but as a parent if your kid is being picked on, try to deal with it and some kids comes up -- at some point you have to defend yourself and tell a bully you will defend yourself. >> absolutely. >> it seems unfair that that kid is getting punished. >> i'm with the daddy. >> i'm with the daddy. >> be with the daddy not the baddy. >> look at you, rapping on our show. i like that. >> seriously, john berman, the funk master, you pushed it a little too far. i got you. >> still ahead on "starting point" this morning, so goes ohio, so goes the white house some people say. right n they're both fighting for a critical vote. then "cheat" men's guide to

infidelity, as if men need a guide to infidelity. >> women have infidelity. >> i'll change that, like anybody needs a guide to infidelity. >> thank you. >> we'll talk to the comedians about their new book. i stand corrected. ♪ (train horn) vo: wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities.

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if mitt romney would like to win the white house, he will almost have to certainly win ohio. and he is gaining ground there. new cnn/orc poll of ohio likely voters shows that mitt romney is within four points of the president, considered to be a statistical dead heat. john king is live in columbus, ohio, this morning.

mitt romney's real challenge in ohio is women, isn't it? >> reporter: it is, soledad. mitt romney is up in the suburbs, up among independents, put ohio back into play from where it was before the first dough bait. the president gets huge support among after rick aan americans, including african-american women. the big warning sign for mitt romney is white women. the light's still on past midnight, another 20-hour day for jessica lundgren. >> i'm a single mom to a daughter, i work full time and go to school full time. my day starts around 4:45 in the morning and ends close to 1:00 am. you do what you have to do in this economy. >> reporter: her vote, she says, is for jillian's future. she was leaning mitt romney until his own words pushed him back to undecided. >> speaking about the 47% and i can't really worry about them. how can you put your faith and trust in a candidate that

doesn't care about everybody? >> reporter: to win ohio and other key battlegrounds, he must overcome the doubts of working women like jessica. still a narrow obama lead. white women are the battleground within the battleground. our new cnn poll shows 52% support the president now, up from the 47% he received here in 2008. >> they're all worried about putting food on the table, raising kids who are happy and healthy and who will have a good future, graduate into an economy where they'll find a job. >> reporter: margie omero has been studying so-called walmart moms for years. >> we've seen them prove to be swing voters over the years. in 2008 they voted for obama. in early 2010, they were a little more divided. by november 2010, they were decidedly republican. >> i was wondering if mitt romney and paul ryan and josh mandel can count on your vote in this election.

like sarah, who is now a romney ohio volunteer. >> he let me down. i was very, very hopeful that he was going to be the guy to turn everything around in america and make everything better and he just -- his words were empty. >> reporter: but romney may have only himself to blame if more white clamiddle class moms side with obama. offended, she says, by romney's 47% remark. >> i think i heard it on an obama ad and then i googled it. i feel like he's out of touch with what everybody's going through. i mean, ohio is one of the hardest places hit. >> reporter: it hit home because the wiseman family got government help while husband, ray, was unemployed for a bit. >> my reaction to what he said was, that's me. he's talking about me. >> reporter: three teenagers and a husband who just found work two hours away shaped sharon's politics. and while she promises to

listen, the hour is getting late. governor romney, running out of time to prove he understands her struggles. soledad, it's quite interesting. governor romney's interview with wolf blitzer, clearly trying to shrug off the 47%, saying it's not what he meant to say. he hopes it fades as the election gets closer. among the things they're asking the romney campaign to do perhaps is to cut an ann romney television ad where she makes a direct appeal to those women who didn't like the 47% and have been turned off by the governor of late. >> it's so fascinating to hear that woman in your piece talking about how she heard it in an ad first, the 47% comment and went back to google it. where are you seeing a change in strategy in the campaign about how to deal with this and move forward in the few days -- several days that are remaining now? >> reporter: it's a tough thing to deal with. it's not an attack ad where it's a voice of god, narrater or some

pictures. it's romney's own voice. most people find horribly offensive. he went on fox news and said i didn't mean to say that. it was horrible. yesterday with wolf he was trying to say i just misspoke and my tongue got out ahead of me. i want to represent 100% of americans. no doubt about it, they'll try to move on from this. go governor rrm doesn't say it's an apology but says i didn't mean it a few more times but obama's campaign is not going to let up, its friends in the super pac is not going to let up. they know the suburban woman's vote is the key. turn on oprah, anderson, daytime programming that women tend to watch more than men, that's with they're running these ads and it's hurting. in a lot of politics, things don't break through. 47% did. >> that's why we see the candidates doing those same -- the women's programming as well. john king, nice to see you. appreciate it. vice president bide sben congressman paul ryan will get a

chance to debate the issues tomorrow. our coverage starts live at 7:00 pm eastern on cnn and also on c cnn.com. still ahead on "starting point" is cheating ever okay? do we need to ask that kind of question? please. new book, that someone has stolen from me, says yes. >> oh, i'm far away from soledad. that's all ryan and john, baby. >> no, i actually handed it off so we could do some stuff on it. it's a guide -- >> setting us up. >> on how to cheat aas if someone needs a handbook. we'll talk to the authors who, surprise, surprise, also are comedian. >> the fools who got busted need a handbook. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time, and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district.

the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.

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okay. new book to talk about. it's called "cheat: a man's guide to infidelity" written by three comedians, bill derosa, joe kelly. i look back to my old boyfriends from college and think they don't need a book. >> first of all we're not telling you go out and do this. or encouraging you. >> no, we're not. >> we're just telling you how to do it. >> we're not saying guys go cheat. but if you're going to, don't ruin your whole life. >> yeah. >> be smart about it. and cheating isn't just a guy with a girl. some women consider dirty movies cheat i cheating. if you're not thinking about me when you're doing anything,

that's cheating. >> they always get busted. you're trying to help them not get busted. >> we want people to be jfk, not tiger woods. >> i am single. just because you're single doesn't mean you're not cheating, which i have learned. >> this book was not written -- >> that's why you're single. >> very prepared to answer to this book for the rest of my life. >> and are you single? >> no. >> you write in this book -- wait, wait. that you cheated on every single girl you were with since seventh grade. >> absolutely. >> he owns it. >> think of this. i'm being honest. >> i appreciate your honesty. >> people -- think of us as bank robbers that rob banks, went to jail and then wrote a book on how to rob a bank. do you understand? i've been married five years. i don't cheat on my wife. when she was my girlfriend, when we first met, absolutely. she knew what a piece of garbage i was. but we evolved and now --

>> now you're a published author for a book called "cheat." >> she helped me write some of it. absolutely. >> wedding ring, so what's up. >> what's that? i can't wear the wedding ring because my finger was going to fall off because i gained so much weight. swear to god. >> that wasn't in the book, right? >> page 23, you write this, when you get these basic human urges to cheat, everything you've ever learned about love prods you to think it's contra addictry to bei being a decent person. then you say that's bull -- >> you have to look at this from a biological standpoint. >> oh! >> hang on. there's something in you that makes you want to do this. whether you go out and do it or not is another story. guys are going out and doing this regardless, being very sloppy when they do it and they're ruining lives. >> whether you do it or not is a

moral question and some believe -- >> i think -- no, no. look, there are plenty of people in marriages where the wife says sex with another woman is not cheating because it's just physical. there are plenty of people in marriages that say if you look at pornography that's cheating because, aas bob said, you're not thinking about me. there are all these different rules. it depends on your relationship, in the situation you're in. >> "cheat: a man's guide about infi d infidelity." it is not about moral philosophy. >> it's hilarious. >> all cheating stories are hilarious. >> short break. you can carry on the conversation. you can try strategies from independent experts and see what criteria they use. such as a 5% yield on dividend-paying stocks. then you can customize the strategies and narrow down to exactly those stocks you want to follow. i'm mark allen of fidelity investments. the expert strategies feature is one more innovative reason

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